#DVDdress

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Christmas in July--Christmas TV Party 2015

The annual Christmas in July party I host each year on this blog is happening soon. If you've been around awhile, you may remember that
each year the summer party is a little different. I try to do something
special in July each year because each of us gets very busy in December
and it's a fun to have a get-together when we aren't in the midst of
the holiday season.

This year I'd like to repeat the mini-questionnaire as a way to
spark a dialogue and to have everyone get to know each other better. I
was inspired to try this approach from what I saw (and participated in)
three years ago on the website Kindertrauma.
With their blessing, I've adapted the questionnaire to fit our needs. We did this last year too--remember all the fun answers? Click HERE to see the 2014 introduction again.

Answer the following five questions as completely or as briefly as you like. Everyone is invited to take
part--long-time readers, other bloggers, casual TV fans, or just the
curious passer-by. Everyone should feel free to join the Christmas
TV Party.

Copy + Paste the questions below in an email, answer them, and email it
back to me. Send your responses in immediately and I'll email you back with a number. That number is your confirmation that I received your answers and your place in the queue. I will begin posting
the responses starting on July 1st--and roll them out in the order received.
(DON'T put your responses to the questions in the comments below--email
them in). Don't worry about photos either--I'll take care of that. And duplicate answers are part of the party experience--don't exert too much effort trying to find rare examples for your answers. If you want to change your answers after you email them to me--please resist the urge. Instead add comments to your own post when it goes up in July. Email your responses to: [sorry, the event is now over]

This Christmas TV Party is supposed to be fun and entertaining so don't sweat your responses. Don't spend four hours on it--just go with what comes easy. If you feel you need a little help, feel free to flip through your dog-eared copy of the encyclopedia Tis the Season TV--or put a copy on hold at your local library. Or, use the search box or click through the archives on this website. Christmas TV memories will come flooding back, I'm sure.

Whether you send in a response or not, please feel free to follow along throughout the month of July. Reading other people's responses is half the fun. I want to encourage everyone to leave comments too--it makes people feel good to know their entry is being read by others. If you like, please feel free to use the Palm tree/Christmas tree Christmas TV Party 2015 badge on your website or social media posts to let others know what you are up to!

Let's get this party started:

Christmas TV Party 2015: (insert your name--your website/optional)

1) What Christmas program/movie have you seen more times than any other?

2) What is your favorite musical Christmas TV special, variety performance, or holiday song in a movie?

4) What do you think is the worst Christmas program/movie--or your least favorite, the most disappointing or most overrated?

5) If you were asked to give advice to a TV network executive in charge of holiday programming, what would you suggest?

Since I'm hosting this party, I'll be glad to be the first one to join the party and lead by example. Isn't this fun already?

Christmas TV Party 2014: Joanna Wilson from ChristmasTVHistory.com

1) What Christmas program/movie have you seen more times than any other?
I have always watched a lot of re-runs on TV so I'm thinking if it were possible to do the math, it must be true that I've watched the 1963 Christmas episode "The Alan Brady Show Presents" from The Dick Van Dyke Show more times than anything else. It also makes sense that I may have seen this more times than any other because I have every song and dance number completely memorized!

2) What is your favorite musical Christmas TV special, variety performance, or holiday song in a movie?
I suppose I have quite a few favorite holiday musical moments. Today my answer is the performance of "Put a little Love In Your Heart" by the whole cast and crew on set in the TV special-within-a-movie at the end of the 1988 movie Scrooged, starring Bill Murray. Honorable Mention: "One Foot in Front of the Other" a song in the Rankin/Bass animated classic Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town.

3) What's your favorite TV or movie adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol?
Obviously, Scrooged is up there. I also adore the 2000 Christmas TV movie A Diva's Christmas Carol which satirizes the music industry, It makes me laugh every time I watch it.

4) What do you think is the worst Christmas program/movie--or your least favorite, the most disappointing, or most overrated?
I've always felt disappointed by the 1980 Christmas episode "Bah Humbug" from WKRP in Cincinnati. Mr. Carlson becomes the stingy Ebenezer Scrooge in this version of Dickens' A Christmas Carol which to me always felt forced. Arthur isn't usually this insensitive to his employees so the change in character feels like it comes as a way to fit the story line rather than a lesson he needs to learn. It sort of ruins the episode for me. Bah!

5) If you were asked to give advice to a TV network executive in charge of holiday programming, what would you suggest?
I feel nostalgic at Christmas and love seeing 1960s and 70s TV variety specials. I think you should air old Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Andy Williams, Bob Hope, and/or Perry Como Christmas specials. I'd gladly come up with a longer list of TV variety specials, if it would help.